


Love in a Time of Hell Week

by formosus_iniquis



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-09 00:13:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6881434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/formosus_iniquis/pseuds/formosus_iniquis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hell week was the most accurate name for this time of year that someone could have possibly come up with. Cause Lindsay was almost certain she would rather be in hell than preparing for the three finals and two papers she had to have done by the end of next week.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love in a Time of Hell Week

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WhenBirdsFly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhenBirdsFly/gifts).



Hell week was the most accurate name for this time of year that someone could have possibly come up with. Cause Lindsay was almost certain she would rather be in hell than preparing for the three finals and two papers she had to have done by the end of next week.

Whoever said that all she would get out of her theatre and english majors was a job a Starbucks could go suck all the dicks, cause that shit was hard. The only reason she was going to end up slinging coffee was because the stress of hell week made her drop out.

She was one email reminder about deadlines away from a nervous breakdown and she was sure it was clear on her face. The usual religious organizations and student groups gave her a wide berth, their usual tactics of giving out food to force conversation directed at other passers-by when they saw her. Something she actually appreciated, all she wanted to do was go back to her dorm room and crawl into bed - a harsh reminder of what she was actually going to do which was smuggle as much caffeine into her bag as she could and commandeer a table in the library to spread her notes across.

It was just luck that she heard the guy standing on the south lawn shouting about playing with kittens from the humane society. It was enough to make her slow her single minded journey toward the library. A trip that was immediately forgotten about when she actually saw the pin full of cats.

She tossed the money she’d had clutched in her hand since she left her last class at the blond guy taking donations, kittens were more important than the coffee she was going to use it for.

Lindsay climbed inside of the pin with all the cats, silently daring anyone to stop her. She scooped up the smallest kitten she could find, a tiny white ball of fluff, before she sat down letting the other cats surround her as they investigated the new person. Fuck Khalessi, she was Lindsay mother of kittens.

She would have been just fine to sit there for forever, alone with that little white kitten napping where she’d set it on her chest and giving the others pets when they came close. The important part of that being  _ alone _ . She had been just fine watching her peers pass by these adorable cats in favor of their dorms or classes or wherever they were headed.

She wasn’t going to say anything though, when someone else came up to the cat pin, she wasn’t exactly going to yell at the cute, sandy haired boy for coming over. Even if she was a little concerned about the way he was mumbling under his breath, he’d clearly been feeling the stress of the week.

She would have just left him alone, enjoyed the first stress free break she’d had in days but he had the cutest cat wrapped around his shoulders and she was becoming increasingly concerned that he wasn’t okay as his mumbling continued.

That and it seemed like an easy way to talk to a cute boy.

“Are you okay?” she asked, the boy gave a startled jump that earned him an annoyed sounding meow from the cat on his shoulder.

“Yeah, ‘m good, top.” he said, stuttered really, he either hadn’t noticed her here or hadn’t expected her to speak to him. All the same, she hadn’t noticed the accent when he’d been mumbling but it was loud and clear now. British, an awful long way from home if he was in fact having a break down.

“Are you sure?” she asked again, more for herself at this point, she wasn’t a bleeding heart or anything but it was going to make her feel a lot better if she heard him say it again. “The talking to yourself thing is a concern.”

The guy looked a little embarrassed, and Lindsay almost felt bad for calling him out on it, until he said, “I wasn’t talking to myself,” and she realized that’s what he was embarrassed by.

“And who were you talking to?” Lindsay wasn’t sure if there was a way he could answer this question that wouldn’t leave her more worried than before.

“I was talking to-” the last of whatever he said mumbled which made Lindsay only want to hear it more.

“Talking to?”

“The cats,” he admitted. Lindsay hoped she looked as endlessly amused as she was feeling right now. The blush high on this stranger’s cheeks made his comment even cuter.

“Good conversation?”

He looked confused for a second, mouth pursed in a question that was seconds from asking, before he realized just what she was saying. “I’m not talking talking to them, I’m not a bloody cat lady,” he said.

“ _ Right _ , it’s the other kind of talking, got it.”

He huffed, a sound that sounded all at once amused, annoyed, and embarrassed. “I’m  naming them.”

“You’re naming them,” Lindsay asked, sure that she wasn’t understanding correctly.

“Well they’re from the pound, they don’t have proper names, do they. So I’m giving them proper cat names.”

Lindsay laughed, at what was honestly the cutest thing she thought she’d heard. Then it was hard not to be adorable when it was coming from a cute blushing boy. Despite the fact that Lindsay couldn’t keep the giggle out of her voice, he didn’t seem offended when she asked, “And what are  _ proper  _ cat names?”

He pointed to the grey cat to his left, “That’s Lloyd,” then a calico on his right, “and Ruby. That’s Egg you’ve got there,” the boy said, flushing scarlet when he realized that he was currently pointing at her chest.

“Right,” Lindsay said, not sure if she was agreeing that those were proper cat names, or just acknowledging she’d heard them and really didn’t mind him pointing to her boobs. She gave Egg’s head a pet in the hopes that she wouldn’t be too upset as Lindsay scooched over to sit a little closer to this cute cat namer. “And what’s this little guy’s name?” She took the chance and reached up to pet the Siamese that was wrapped around his shoulders, her hand coming super close to his face as she asked the question.

“Gavin,” he stuttered, eyes straining as he watched her hand pet the cat he was wearing like a scarf.

“Gavin,” she repeated, “not to criticize but that’s a weird name for cat.”

“No, n-no I’m Gavin, this is Bob Hoskins.”

“Bob Hoskins?” She couldn’t help the broad smile that stretched across her face, it was a strange name coming from an equally strange boy, but Lindsay couldn’t say she wasn’t a little endeared.

“Smee, from Hook, Bob Hoskins.”

She rolled her eyes, smile still in place of course because well there really was something to that European charm. “I know who Bob Hoskins is. Smee makes a better name for a cat though.”

He frowned, the serious look strange on his face but it seemed to be out of concentration rather than any sort of negative emotion. “I’ll keep that in mind.” There was a heavy pause, the pause of someone who realized that for as long as they had been talking he didn’t actually know who he was talking to.

“Lindsay,” she said, “and what makes this guy so special that he gets so much thought put into his name.”

“Lindsay,” Gavin repeated, shy smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he said her name, “he gets the attention because he’s coming home with me.”

She couldn’t help the small squeal that escaped her, “You’re adopting him?”

Gavin nodded, “I came back for him after my class let out. He was very insistent that I come back when I left, there wasn’t anyone here last time to keep petting him.”

Lindsay reached up so she could give Smee the attention he wanted, if her fingers brushed against the side of Gavin’s neck as she rubbed behind the cat’s ears it was completely accidental. “So cute,” she said. Whether she was talking about the cat or the boy who came back to get it was entirely up to Gavin, Lindsay thought both were accurate. “I came to pet you as soon as I could kitty. I’ll pay attention to you until Gavin takes you away.”

“You can come over and pet my kitty whenever you want,” Gavin said, his offer immediate and seemed entirely genuine even as he made it looking over Lindsay’s shoulder rather than at her.

“I usually don’t get that offer from  _ guys _ ,” she teased, watching Gavin's face pink as he realized his accidental innuendo. His mouth dropped open and Lindsay rushed to add something before he could deny it, or worse take it back. If you’re asking me out though, I accept.”

Gavin’s smile was blinding, Smee was purring, and Lindsay was thinking that maybe hell week really wasn’t so bad.

\----

Hell week, Michael thought, was designed specifically to make him question all of his life choices. Actually college in general seemed to be designed to make him question his life choices. Like letting his mother talk him into going in the first place.

Electrical engineering was interesting and he couldn’t say choosing to major it it was one of the things he regretted, but fuck his life did it keep him busy. Busy enough that he hadn’t been able to do much but study since midterms had started. It was really killing him, both because he really needed the stress relief that came from shooting things and because his gaming channel was really suffering from all those weeks of inactivity. He may be studying engineering but he had always hoped to find a way to turn gaming into a career.

He had a second to breathe now though, he’d just turned in his last major project and had nothing to do until he gave in and started studying for the finals he had next week. He had one objective now and it was to get back to his room and to get his Xbox online, he had a couple requests for new Rage Quits and the urge to scream at something that wasn’t an unwritten essay.

He was almost home free, his walk from class has gotten him as far as the south lawn and he could almost feel his controller in his hand, when he made the mistake of making eye contact with a girl manning a table off to the side. He'd dropped his gaze immediately to his phone, but knew it was too late when he could see her stand and move out in front of him. 

She was gorgeous. Colorful hair in waves framing a pretty face. A shirt referencing an anime that happened to be one of Michael's favorites tight across her chest and tight jeans showed off an amazing ass. Michael might actually sign her petition or take the flyer for her youth group or whatever she was harassing people with before he locked himself away in his room.

She had a smile in place and a look in her eye that had Michael thinking that what she was about to ask was less of a question and more of a demand, definitely a petition he was about to sign. “Come to the humane society de-stress event.” The sentence ended in an upward inflection, but Michael still didn’t feel like it was a question, he got the feeling this girl didn’t hear no a lot. “It’s free, but we’re taking donations, and all of the cats are up for adoption.”

“Fuck no,” Michael said, the words surprising even himself. It definitely surprised the girl standing across from him, her eyebrows making a valiant attempt to join her hairline.

“I’m sorry?” Now it was a question. Michael was willing to bet she didn’t hear the word no a whole lot and looking like that it wasn’t a surprise.

“Look I was totally ready to say yes to whatever you were going to ask ‘til you mentioned cats. The cats were the deal breaker, now it’s gonna have to be a no.”

Her expression shifted back into a smile, if he didn’t know any better he’d almost say it was flirty. “Are you saying there’s a better way to de-stress than playing with a pussy.”

Michael couldn’t help but laugh in her face, a sharp bark that he couldn’t stop even if he’d wanted to. “I think we’re having a whole other conversation now…” 

He trailed off hoping she’d fill in the blank without him asking, and was delighted when she did, “Meg.”

“Michael, but go on you were talking about what again?”

“The humane society event,” she said, not giving an inch. “It's nice to get them out of those cages and into somewhere bigger, it’s even nicer when people show up and give them some attention.”

Michael made a face as he looked over at the pin that had been set up on the lawn and then back at Meg. “Isn’t there a saying about how stupid it is to herd cats?”

“Is there a saying about trying to herd cute, stubborn boys?”

“Well I guess that depends on where you’re trying to herd them.”

That flirty smile hadn’t left her face since it first appeared and it only got wider. “Well I’d like to get them to come to my event, but if I can’t have that I wouldn’t mind grabbing something to eat with them.”

“What time do you get off?” Michael asked, his plans for the evening making a sudden change.

“Well  _ that _ depends on you, but my shift ends in ten if you want to stick around.”

Ten minutes, he could deal with a couple of mangy cats for a couple minutes while he waited for Meg to finish up. It may not have been the way he was planning on spending his night but he had the feeling that a couple hours with Meg would be a lot better than spending that time yelling at games.

Of all the choices hell week might have him regretting, he didn’t think Meg would be one of them.

\----

“C’mon Michael, where’s your sense of romance, it’s our anniversary and this is where we met,” Meg said, dragging him by the hand just like she had been since she’d met him outside of his last class.

“Maybe I’d rather be spending it where we got together,” Michael said. He’d been pouting since he’d left his class and realized Meg’s plans for the night started with a stop by the humane society event. “Or maybe I’d rather be studying for one of the six finals I have coming up next week.”

“Shut up, you’ve been planning on spending today with me anyway,” Meg said with a smirk. It was hard to find time to spend together now that the semester was coming to a close, but they had sacrificed some of it so they could get a jump start on some of their studying for their coming finals, all so they could spend all night together. “Even though it’s  _ totally romantic _ to spend some time at the place where we met on our anniversary, I have to stop by anyway. I’m fucking president of the Free Play Event Committee, and if Ryan or Mariel found out I didn’t show up they’ll never let me hear the end of it.”

“Fine,” he said with a sigh, like he was letting her win a battle they both knew she’d already won. They walked hand in hand in silence for a little while, the stress of the week melting away the way it always did when they were together. She and Michael understood each other in a way she’d never experienced in a relationship before, sometimes she thought they could be the same person.

So she could almost guess what Michael had thought of when he suddenly perked up again. The gentle tug of his hand in hers drawing her attention to him as he stood a little straighter. “So,” he said, “what are the chances of this mystery couple you won’t shut up about being there? I’d like to at least meet the two of them before you try to seduce them.”

Meg rolled her eyes, she would admit one of the best parts of dating someone who understood her the way Michael did was there hadn’t been a blow up or break up when she’d asked about opening their relationship. She knew Michael didn’t do anything halfway, the pink paper that had covered her door on Valentine’s day and the florists shop that had filled her room on her birthday testified to that. She’d known guys like that, had dated guys like that before, and they could get jealous. Michael had only asked one question and it was whether or not it would make Meg happy, after that he’d agreed without a second thought.

“I’m not trying to seduce them,” she said, “they’re just really nice.”

Michael let out a small considering hum, “Right, they’re just nice, and you don’t have a huge crush on the both of them.”

“I have a crush on them the same way you have a crush that TA leading your Lit class.”

Michael gave her hand a squeeze, “Good so we are on the same page then. I won’t embarrass you if they are there, I’ll wait until after you seduce them to start doing that.”

She made sure she was smiling at Michael when she punched him in the shoulder. “You’re an asshole,” she said, “and I don’t know why I’m dating you.”

“Because I’m charming as shit, and after you’ve introduced me to the other two I’ll decide if its also cause you’ve got good taste.”

Meg chose to ignore him, and let her eyes wander over the event. Tyler was working this shift, which Meg was pretty sure he was using the time to flirt with random passers-by not that she really had the room to judge on that front. The setup looked like it was pretty much the same as the year before, which made it easy to spot the people she and Michael had just been talking about. “Looks like you’re in luck, Jones, you’ll get to meet them after all.”

“The hot ones that are actually inside the pin with all of those cats?” She wondered if he knew that even as he tried to sound derisive he had a dopey smile on his face.

Meg could feel herself smiling, “Yeah, that’s them.” She waved with the hand that wasn’t still entwined in Michael’s to try to get their attention and shouted, “Lindsay, Gavin!”

Gavin stumbled into a standing position and he waved back with his whole body it looked like Lindsay was hiding a laugh at Gavin’s near fall behind her hand as she waved at Meg. 

“Alright,” Michael said leaning close to Meg like he was worried he would be overheard by the approaching couple, “I take it back, you have amazing taste.” His eyes were fixed on the two, “Will I seem more of less romantic if I start flirting with the couple you have a crush on?”

“Depends, are you just gonna pull on their pigtails like you did when you met Ryan?”

“In my defense, you can’t talk to Ryan without flirting with him and I didn’t know he was in love with that blonde journalism major. Can you really blame me for flirting just a little.”

“Not at all, but why don’t you meet Gavin and Lindsay first before you give them the same treatment.”

Gavin came bounding over seconds later, “Hey-o Turney, Linds and I were just sayin’ how great the event is this year.”

“Yeah that’s what we were just saying,” Lindsay agreed, something in her tone of voice had a blush forming on Gav’s cheeks.

“So is this Michael then,” Gavin asked, an obvious attempt at changing the subject for some reason.

“Of course it’s Michael, Gav,” Lindsay said, “can’t you tell he’s even cuter than Meg said he was.”

Now it was Michael’s turn to blush, he liked to talk a big game but Meg had learned quickly he was easy to fluster when complemented. “Glad to hear she’s talked about me as much as she has you, I was sick of you before I met you.”

He coughed as her elbow caught him in the side, the ‘be nice’ that went with it hopefully implied.

“Don’t be terrible, Michael boi,” Gavin said. “We only just met.”

“Boi? That’s awfully familiar there, Gav,” Michael teased.

“Really cause I think we could get a little more familiar if we tried,” Lindsay said, Meg flushed hot as Lindsay winked at her.

For all Michael’s teasing that Meg wanted to seduce the couple, and how on the nose he’d been when he’d accused her of having a crush on the two of them, she hadn’t expected any flirting from them. She’d expected to let Michael finally meet the two of them, for him to see that they really were as amazing as she had said, and then she and Michael could moon about Lindsay and Gavin again later. 

But what Lindsay was doing, that was definitely flirting, and she was pretty sure Gavin was doing the same.

“What made you guys stop by,” Meg asked, “I dragged Michael here cause I had to work, but an event like this doesn’t seem like a real hot date.”

Meg thought Gavin’s enamoured face was adorable, the way he looked at Lindsay like she was the only person there. “No, well this is where we met, seemed proper to start the night out here for a bit.”

“Two couples got together because of this,” Meg said, the smug look she was sending Michael only took a little bit away from Gavin’s romanticism.

“I can’t believe it either, but love finds a fucking way I guess. Even if that way is some stupid pet a kitty de-stress event.”

“It’s a good thing you’re cute,” Lindsay said, “it almost makes up for your cat hatred.”

“Everyone likes Smee though, you’ll have to meet him Michael that’ll change your mind,” Gavin added. No comment about Lindsay calling Michael cute but a shy smile that said he might agree.

This was going better than Meg could have hoped.

“You know if it’s your anniversary too, you guys should come out with us tonight,” Meg said. “We can go out to dinner and then after maybe you could introduce us to Smee?”

They agreed before she’d even finished asking the question, fast enough that she almost wished she’d done this sooner if it was going to be so easy, but maybe that was the magic of the event. Meg didn’t really care what the reason was she was just glad it was happening. Maybe next year she’d have another reason and two extra people to help her drag Michael to this thing.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me here on tumblr, I'm [formosusiniquis](http://formosusiniquis.tumblr.com/). I post some of my shorter ramblings that don't make it over here


End file.
